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Description
A problem that is commonly identified among drafting students has been termed "spatial visualization." This can be interpreted as the inability to mentally picture objects that are portrayed on a two-dimensional medium such as the printed page. Some authors of graphic textbooks try to overcome this difficulty by using "pictorial" portrayals of their problems. Instructional aids for descriptive geometry are a logical follow up to these pictorial portrayals. As the authors have attempted to add a three-dimensional appearance to their descriptive geometry problems, the instructional aids for descriptive geometry described in this report are actual three-dimensional, workable, descriptive geometry problems. There are five problem models in this described set. Each problem model is composed of an object model surrounded by transparent plastic planes. Views of the object model are drawn upon these plastic planes in the correct spatial location. A feature unique of these descriptive geometry instructional aids and one that greatly increases their instructional value, is the mechanical ability to appear in flat, (two-dimensional form) or erected, (three-dimensional form). To the student, in the two-dimensional form the problem appears the same as if it were a problem being worked on paper. A friction hinge that locks the transparent planes of the problem models together enables the transition from two-dimension to three-dimension, dependent upon the form desired by the student or instructor, to best enable the student to overcome difficulties in spatial visualization or any of the principles of descriptive geometry. The five problem models were selected on the basis of being the best problems to help a drafting student solve the problems a draftsman frequently encounters. The existing set described in the report has been used with apparent success in both engineering drafting and descriptive geometry classes. This successful use has suggested other problem models which could be made using the same procedures as described in the report to aid in the instruction of the principles of descriptive geometry.
